No scissors needed

When the new Staples store opened up in Bethlehem Town Center on Route 9W in Glenmont last Tuesday, officials didn’t gather around for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Instead, it was a ribbon-shredding ceremony.

For the past four years, the office supply superstore has been using its own shredding products to chew a five-foot-long “ribbon” made of cardstock. Because this was the first
Staples to open in the area since the late 1990s, according to the company, this is the first time a local ribbon-shredding ceremony has taken place.

Karen O’Neil, manager of new store marketing for the Framingham, Mass.-based retailer, said she wanted to find an alternative to boring ribbon-cutting events.

“We knew shredders were becoming a hot item, and we came up with this idea,” she said. “The nice thing is you get great smiles.”

In Glenmont, a gaggle of local dignitaries held the ribbon as it was eaten by the Staples-brand 8-Sheet Cross Cut Shredder, model no. SPL-826X. It could not be learned who pushed the “on” switch.